Book Study: The Mitten

The Mitten by Jan Brett: Book Study

This resource is designed to accompany The Mitten by Jan Brett.

You can download the set of centers designed to go with this book at the bottom of this post. Click on the bold link.

The Mitten is a well known Ukrainian folktale that has been retold and published by many authors.  A popular version was put out by Jan Brett in 1996 with wonderful illustrations that has become a kid favorite in so many homes and classrooms.

In case you aren’t familiar with this particular version, it tells the story of a young boy who asks his Baba to knit him some snow-white mittens.  After losing one of them outside, the mitten becomes a winter refuge for many forest creatures.  The mitten eventually finds its way back to the boy, but is a little different than when it was first lost.

When reading this book with my students, I always asked them to bring in mittens if they had them (and had some extra pairs for those who couldn’t).  I let them wear the mittens as we read and discussed the story, which was always fun for them.

Descriptions of Resources Included:

Task Cards – These cards are designed to accompany many of the printables we have created. They could be all be placed at a center for students to choose from.  Or, they could serve as the directions you place at various centers as a reminder after you have explained the directions.

Mitten Flip Book – The smaller mitten shaped book pages can be used as the task card suggests. Students will write about some of the characters and events in the book.  You might also use the stapled shapes as another way for students to show their understanding of story elements. You might even use them with any number of writing prompts to go with the book.

We have also provided a full page sized mitten that students can use to write their own version of The Mitten but with a different article of clothing and other kinds of animals.  This could get creative!

Story Maps – These were created in case you want your students to show their understanding of retelling or story elements.  Choose the one that works best for you.

Sequence Sentence Cards – These cards have sentences describing the events from the book. Students can use the book to help place the events in the correct order. (Modify by taking out some of the sentences if you feel there are too many for your students.) You might also have students use these cards for fluency practice.

Parts of Speech Sort – This set of 24 word cards includes nouns, verbs and adjectives.  Students sort them into the correct category.  A recording page has also been provided if you want students to record their work.  We have also included a page of blank cards in case you want to write additional words from the book. You might have your students find additional words for their sort.

Writing Prompts – There are three different writing prompts that go along with the story.  Assign one or put all three out and let students choose.  Also, an extra full page of writing lines has been included for those students who are ready for longer more detailed stories.

Visualizing – This page requires students to pick one of the sentences on the sequence cards.  They record the sentence and then draw a picture of what they visualize as they read it.

New Vocabulary – Students use the book to find three words that are new to them, find the definition and illustrate what the word means.

Story Comparison – I am lucky enough to have several books from my childhood still.  I have a version of The Mitten by Alvin Tresselt (copyright 1964!!) that I used with my students to compare the stories.  You may be able to find other versions as well.  These folktales are always fun to compare because they have been retold and rewritten in various ways.  Have your students read another version and work together to compare the stories.  If this seems too difficult as a group or partner activity, we have provided a colorful version that you can use for a whole group discussion about the two versions.

Additional Resources – Two lined writing pages and two blank color anchor charts have been provided for you to use as needed.

You can download this How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World collection here:

Mitten Resources

If you are looking to purchase The Mitten or other books for this study, you will find affiliate links below